Usual press non-story. This change only occurs when an accident has occured and in certain circumstances. So if you feck up and crash whilst on your mobile, you may be charged with dangerous driving rather than careless.

Agreed. They were discussing this on the radio this morning and they actually had one of the "researchers" from the Research Lab that done the testing, and he was a right smug git, proving the results that someone using a hands-free had worse reaction times than a drunk driver......

Fcuker probably had such a test result setup where you weren't allowed to say "traffic bad. can't talk" etc...bet they had a test where you had to be making decisions, speaking to others, conference calls etc and got scored badly for not having 100% concentration on the phone convo....

We would need to see the test itself I reckon......

I agree with banning mobile phone use - txting and holding it to yer lug etc - I hate seeing that shit, but hands-free kits and those of us that pipe the cellphone through the car's stereo seems a bit harsh....

What next - banning radios, cd's, talking to yer missus and singing in the car?

What is the difference between holding a conversation with your passenger, and holding a conversation over a hands-free kit? (you know the kit I mean, the very same one the Government have been telling us to use for years...)

Sanchauk, not strictly true. The offence does not have to include an accident. You just watch how quickly plod start pulling people for this. What I can't understand is that if it is so dangerous to talk to someone on a transmitting device (as it is claimed that the person on the other end cannot judge the situation in fornt of you driving) then how come Plod are allowed to use their in car radios? Surely any communication device should count? I for one will be keeping an eye out for Plod using mobiles whilst driving, like the bird who took a photo of a copper drinking a can of coke at the wheel, not a week after a guy was done for eating a snickers!

According to the research, a driver on the phone is more distracted than one who has drunk as much as the legal alcohol limit.

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WTF?! How is talking while driving more dangerous than drink driving?! And how does me talking while driving make me a criminal.

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Happy,

Whereas you may well be aware of your surroundings, as most people are, there are several drivers out there who get very animated on the phone, try to juggle phone fag and steering wheel whilst changing lanes, negotiating roundabouts etc.

I haven't tested my theory (for a while at least! ) however I do believe it is possible for someone who has had two pints (legal limit) to drive better than some of the muppets you see swerving all over the road whilst texting/calling that all important call to see if the new Burberry caps are in.

In short its not you but if you are running as a squad you need to run at the pace of the slowest man! (Awaits incoming from PTIs to tell me different!!)

Sanchauk, not strictly true. The offence does not have to include an accident. You just watch how quickly plod start pulling people for this. What I can't understand is that if it is so dangerous to talk to someone on a transmitting device (as it is claimed that the person on the other end cannot judge the situation in fornt of you driving) then how come Plod are allowed to use their in car radios? Surely any communication device should count? I for one will be keeping an eye out for Plod using mobiles whilst driving, like the bird who took a photo of a copper drinking a can of coke at the wheel, not a week after a guy was done for eating a snickers!

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Agreed and point taken. It's just that (and I could be mistaken) for the law to make a dangerous driving charge stick there usually needs to have been an accident? Maybe plod could advise?

I'm just getting fed up with even conservative news outlets hyping stories. I sometimes wonder if the 'state' sponsors this kind of behaviour to keep us underlings living in fear.

From the looks of it they are saying that using a hands-free or not, you're unsafe.

I see the point about differing awareness levels of drivers but surely then we should employ a force (or service...can't be aggresstive now, can we!) of citizens to apply some sense and thought as well as the word of the law to a situation and react appropriately to both enforce those laws and protect others.

Shame the 'Police' we have seem to have problems doing this and instead will hunt drivers to keep their arrest figures up.

I do think thought that we should take this story with a pince of salt as I'm pretty sure the sentence for 'Dangerous Driving' has always been a jail term.